(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Exodus chapter nine and we're looking at the seventh plague here tonight. We're looking at the plague of hail and we're going to finish the chapter here tonight and so starting at verse number 13, the Bible reads, And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart and upon thy servants and upon thy people that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence, now shall be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Now here in verse number 16, it says, And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power. Now turn to Romans chapter nine, Romans chapter nine, and I believe when he says for this cause have I raised thee up, I think this can be very misinterpreted because a lot of people look at this phrase specifically Calvinist and they will say well basically, you know, Pharaoh was chosen from birth by God to be born and then just damned to hell and be this evil person and basically he could not resist the will of God to me because for this cause I raised thee up, for this cause you know I gave you this that I was going to just have you born and then just be this awful person that had no chance of forgiveness and had no chance to accept the message of God and then I raised you up for this purpose. Now Romans chapter nine actually talks about Pharaoh a little bit more and let's see what it says here in Romans nine and realize that with any topic in the Bible you need to realize what the entire Bible teaches. You don't want to just take one verse and say well you know what it looks like we don't have free will because look at this one verse I don't understand when there's a lot of verses that talk about free will. In fact, in the Old Testament there's what's called a free will offering. You say well what's that about? It's in your own free will, right? And so why would the Bible mention many times the free will offering if there is no free will, right? That's ridiculous. But notice what it says here in Romans nine verse 15. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, okay? So we're going to be looking at the quote from the Old Testament. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. Now so far it doesn't really give us any more detail. It's specifically quoting there from Exodus chapter nine and it says in verse 19. Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but oh man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much lung suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? Now the Bible says that he has the power to make one vessel unto honor and one unto dishonor. See the Bible says that when you're saved, you're meant to be a vessel unto honor and that does not mean that God forced you to get saved and it doesn't mean that he forces you to do as well, but what it means is because you are saved, you know what God says, what I want you to live a godly life. I have a plan for you. I have a purpose for you. I have works for you to accomplish for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus onto good works. That doesn't mean that he forces you to do those good works though. You have the free will to do that, whereas there's other people that are on to dishonor. The person that rejects the gospel, the person that becomes a reprobate like Pharaoh, he's also going to fulfill God's will here. Now here's the thing, when Pharaoh became a reprobate, he's done. In this story, yeah you're right, he does not just have this eternal decision whether or not I'm going to abide by God's word or not because of the fact he's a wicked person, he's twice dead, there's no chance to be saved and the Bible even mentions God hardening his heart. But here's the thing, the guy was already a reprobate, the guy was already done, the guy had no chance to be saved and the Bible says that God endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Look, I promise you that every single person in this world that's a reprobate, God was very, very, very long suffering to give them a chance. But the problem is they had their chance and they rejected it. I mean think of the story of Cain and Abel, I mean God comes to Cain, Cain's the one who did wrong, Cain's the one that disobeyed but God comes to Cain and says, hey, you've got a chance to do right, I'll accept you, you're going to be above your brother. And then Cain rejected it, rejected the word of God and he chose to get mad and kill his brother. I mean God was very long suffering to give him a chance but you know it comes to a point where you make that free will choice to walk through that door becoming a reprobate and you're done. And see here's the thing, since Pharaoh was already a reprobate, God did use a man that was already rejected to fulfill his will. Now think of a couple famous characters, one that's in the past and one that will be in the future, think of Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot is one of the most evil people that ever lived, I don't think there's any question about that, I mean he might be number one on that list, right? Here's the thing though, Judas was born as a normal human being, a normal human being that God loved, that Jesus died for, that Jesus paid for all of his sins, past, present and future, big and small. Judas Iscariot at a young age was not a child of the devil, he had a chance to accept the gospel, he had a chance to believe on Jesus Christ and you could debate about when exactly he crossed that line, whether or not he did that before he was chosen or whether or not he was done after he was chosen. But here's the thing, when he was a young person, he was not a bad person, it's not like God said, I do not want this guy to get saved, you're just going to be damned to hell and be some evil person. But since he was already a bad person, God did use him to fulfill his will. I mean you see throughout the Bible, sometimes God uses people to fulfill his will that are not necessarily godly people, but God uses people that are not necessarily godly to fulfill his will. Now with Judas Iscariot, what is his will? Well the fact that he would turn on Jesus and have him crucified so he could die for the sins of the world, somebody who's going to be coming, you know, maybe in five years, maybe in 20 years, maybe in 50 years, I don't know, the Antichrist, the Antichrist is going to be born as a normal human being. A normal human being that has a mom and has a dad, he's not going to be miraculously virgin born or anything like that, he's going to have a mom, he's going to have a dad. Now of course, God knows who this is going to be. No we don't know. You say, well I think every time there's a new president in the US it's like George Bush is the Antichrist, Bill Clinton is the Antichrist, you know, Barack Obama is the Antichrist, Donald Trump is the Antichrist, Joe Biden is the Antichrist, no matter who the president is there's always a new group that says this is the Antichrist. We don't know who the Antichrist is going to be because that's going to be revealed halfway through Daniel's 70th week. He's going to make it manifest by in the temple declaring himself to be God. And there's a lot of arrogant politicians that might fit characteristics like that, but as far as I know they've never been in the temple of God declaring themselves to be God. And so here's the thing though, the Antichrist is going to be born as a normal person that had every opportunity to believe on Christ, not that God's stopping him from getting saved, even though God knows what's going to take place, but he's going to reject and reject and then God is going to allow him to be the person to be the Antichrist. That doesn't mean that God forced it to take place though. Obviously with Pharaoh at a young age, you know what, God loved him and he wanted him to get saved, but he didn't get saved. And then God said, you know what, I'm going to use you to fulfill my will as you've rejected me. It says that he endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. And then he might make known the riches of his glory and the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared on to glory. Go back to Exodus chapter nine, Exodus nine. So you have to understand that the world is more important than just one person. Yeah, it's too bad Pharaoh never believed on the Lord and he's in hell today. But here's the thing about this, God used Pharaoh to help bring the gospel I believe to Egypt to teach God's people a lot of things and this would have never taken place unless God used Pharaoh to fulfill his will in this way. But can Pharaoh really complain in hell right now and say, it's not fair. It's like, wait a minute, you had every chance that you wanted when you were young. You weren't born, you know, you weren't born twice dead. You weren't born with no opportunity. You can't sit here and complain and say, well, it's not fair. No, it is fair. Stephen Hawking that died and went to hell, he can't sit here and say, well, it's not fair. It's like, look, you chose to reject God and then you hated him so much you wrote an entire book just mocking the idea of God being real. And even someone who never becomes a reprobate when they're alive, they're essentially a reprobate once they die, meaning they have no chance to go to heaven. They can't sit here and say, well, it's not fair because all liars shall have their part and God did give them a chance. God wanted them to be saved. I mean, think about it, you know, God's love is greater than ours, but don't we want the unsaved world to be saved? How much more does God want them to be saved? But here's the thing, God gives us free will. We are not robots. God does not force us to believe. See, the Calvinist says, well, and they'll use Romans 9, they'll use Exodus 9 and they'll say, well, God chose some for heaven and God chose some for hell. And if you say, well, that's not fair, I mean, how is it that they don't have an opportunity? It's like, well, it actually is fair. You know why? Because of the fact God's even gracious to let some people go to heaven. He can let us all go to hell. And I'm just thinking, what a warped mind that you have. The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, that all would change their mind and believe on Christ. God doesn't want anybody to go to hell. That's why the Bible says the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Everybody. Jesus died for everybody, including this Pharaoh. He died for him. He died and paid for all of his sins. I mean, for all the Pharaohs that existed, he died for all of their sins. But, you know, by and large, I don't think there's a lot of pharaohs that believed on the Lord and God saved. Maybe there's a few in there, but he had his choice and he rejected, he had his chance. Exodus 9 verse 17, as yet exaltest thou thyself against my people that thou wilt not let them go. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. So the Bible says there's going to be a very grievous hail that takes place. Now, I was looking online and I guess in the Philippines from time to time, there's a really small hail that takes place. It's a pretty rare thing. But that's like saying, when I lived in Sacramento, once every few years, it would snow and everyone's like, man, it's snowed today. And then when you see it, it's like this big and it lasts for a couple of hours because it's barely, you know, it's right at the level of freezing, but it's like, that's not snow. It'd be like in America if I said, man, it's really raining really heavy. And you would be like, you don't know what heavy rain is as an American, you know, come to the Philippines and you'll find out what heavy rain is. Whenever it actually has hailed in the Philippines, it's not like a really serious hail that takes place. And I would say that growing up in West Virginia, I'll say this, every single year it hailed, you know, during the year at some time. Not every year we had a hail though that was really that big of a deal. And so, you know, generally when it hailed, you know, as it hits you, you know, you kind of feel it a little bit, but it doesn't really hurt that much. But we did have a few times where the hail was really heavy and it's like, you immediately got to your house and got to safety. Number one, you got your car parked in your garage or under a place where it's protected. You say, why? Because the hail is going to break your windows. And then you, and if you're outside and you get hit with it, it's, the way I think of it is like being stoned. I'd imagine this is what it's like being stoned where, you know, you're just getting pelted and it hurts. And I've been hit with hail before where it stinks. And if you get hit with big enough hail, it could even leave a bruise. And so what do you do is you go inside and then you just hear the hail just pelt your house. And you're just hoping that it doesn't hit the windows in the right spot because if it's the right angle in the right spot and it's going to break your windows. But every single time when we had a heavy hail like this, there'd be people in the area where they had damaged under their house as a result of the hail. Of course, the hail that I experienced is nothing like the hail here, but I can kind of relate because of the fact I understand hail is, it hurts when it hits you and it's pretty big. And here, I believe this is the biggest hail that has ever existed because the Bible says, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, even until now, at the very least Egypt had never experienced a hail such as this. Now, if you're going to relate this to any goddess or god of Egypt, it would be the goddess Nut. And N-U-T, the goddess Nut, also known by various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, the goddess of the mothers, astronomy and the universe in the ancient Egyptian religion. She was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over the earth or as a cow. She was depicted wearing the water pot sign, N-W, that identifies her. I mean, they've got a lot of weird gods in these religions, just either a nude woman or a cow. It's like, I mean, I don't really see the correlation there, but the Bible says about this hail that takes place, because it said this goddess is over the sky and the stars and the weather we see. It says here in Exodus 9, verse 19, send therefore now and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field, for upon every man a beast which shall be found in the field and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them and they shall die. So this hail is going to be so heavy that if you get hit with it, you're going to die. Now when I've been hit by hail before, it never knocked me over. What it does is it makes you cover your head and run and get inside, because generally when we did have hail, it was kind of unpredictable. I don't know about how the weather predicts hail now, but it seemed like it would almost kind of come out of nowhere. But here it's obviously so heavy that you get hit with it, I mean, you're going to die. So I don't know whether that means one shot would just knock you over, or whether or not it's just so much that that's coming that you can't guard your body, and it's almost like, imagine being in a boxing match and you don't defend yourself and you just get punched over and over and over again, eventually you're going to die. You get hit with enough stones, eventually you're going to die. Stoning was a common way people died. I don't necessarily know how many stones it would take to kill someone or how much hail or whatever, but that's what's taking place in the Bible, saying that everybody that stays out in the field, every man and every beast that is out in the field is going to die. Now, I want you to realize this conversation is a very public conversation with Pharaoh. I mean, there's always witnesses as he's talking to him. It's not like going to his private house. It's going to essentially like a palace, and there's going to be servants that are always hearing this. Now, these are the days before Facebook and social media, so things spread by word of mouth. And so basically, nobody's getting on Facebook and saying, okay, Moses said the seventh plague is going to be hail, right? What's taking place is people are hearing it, and especially at this time when all of these plagues had happened, I'm sure people are starting to be a little bit worried, and then all of a sudden it's like, all right, the next plague is hail. So what takes place is everybody in the country finds out about it, because the Bible's saying there's the choice of either fearing God or not fearing God. So this is the way news spread, and everybody's finding out about the next plague is going to be hail. Notice what it says in verse 20, he that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. Now, this is the first instance that you see during this entire time period where any Egyptian fears the word of God. And what this shows to me is they were very hardened against the truth. They were so arrogant, they thought we're the most powerful, we're the best, we've got the right religion, we're right about everything. And it took one plague, two plagues, three, four, five, six, seven plagues, and finally it broke free to some people. Now, I'm sure along the way, there were probably some others that started to fear God a little bit, but this is, I would say, the first time when there's actually a lot of people that actually fear God. Now they're like, man, this is horrible. And it says, he that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. Now, go to Acts chapter 10, Acts 10. Now, does fearing God get you saved? Fearing God in and of itself does not get you saved and it's possible for an unsaved person to fear God. However, this is the first step to actually getting saved is actually fearing God. If you do not fear God, you're not going to get saved. Because here's the thing, I mean, the truth of hell and realizing that God sends people to hell, what that is called is called a fear of the judgment of God that can come upon you. And the Bible says this in Acts chapter 10, let's see a man who's unsaved that fears God. Acts 10 verse one, there's a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God all way. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, Cornelius, when he looked on him, he was afraid and said, what is it Lord? He said unto him, thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. The Bible says about this man that he feared God, he was devout, he's praying to God, he's giving alms, this is a man who has money, but he's giving money to help people that are less fortunate than him. And the Bible says that he feared God and what takes place? God sends an angel actually to come to him. Now why would God do and we're going to see very clearly in Acts 11, this is an unsaved person. This is not a safe person, Cornelius. I've heard a lot of people say this through the years that no unsaved person, I mean actually a lot of Calvinists say things like this, no unsaved person fears God. It's like you need to start reading your Bible more because the Bible is very clear that Cornelius fears God and it's very clear he's not saved. You know what that tells us? That means there are people in every country under the sun that are not saved but actually fear God. There are Muslims in Arab countries right now that fear God. There are Hindus in India and other countries right now that fear God. There are Buddhists right now that fear God. There are people that line up with a certain religion and it's the wrong religion but here's the thing, they're trying to follow the conscience on the inside of them. They're trying to do what's right. They don't know the truth. They might have a weird and bizarre religion but they actually do fear God, they're trying to do what's right. And this is Cornelius, he's a man that fears God. And it says here in verse number five, and now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter. He lodges with one Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Now go to Acts chapter 11, Acts 11, Acts 11. The Bible gives us more detail here in Acts 11. It says in Acts 11 verse 13, and he showed us, this is Peter's retelling the story of what took place. Verse 13, and he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house which stood and said unto him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved, spiritually saved from hell. And so Peter was sent to Cornelius into his house to give him the gospel and to get them saved. And so does every single person who fears God in this world, does every single one of them get saved? No, not necessarily because we need enough soul winners to preach the gospel to them. But it does mean that if somebody fears God, God's going to put in every effort to try to get that person saved. And it might mean, you know, we might call it, someone might call it divine intervention or special appointment or whatever, but God can use circumstances to reach somebody who actually fears God. Someone who's actually trying to do what's right. Now, of course, we go out soul winning, we talk to everybody, we talk to a lot of people that don't fear God. They don't care about God, they mock us. I mean, on Sunday, I was preaching the gospel to like a group of like nine people in Manila. And you know, it's funny because somebody got a picture of it. And I knew this during the conversation, several of them were like laughing and mocking me. I was preaching the gospel. They thought it was funny, they might not have realized they were being rude, but I mean, it is being rude. They're laughing about it and saying, you know, whatever. And I see that in the picture they took, but it's like, well, there might have been several that were mocking, but several of them also got saved. And so what you see is some people actually have a fear of God. Some people want to know the truth, and some don't. And we can't force people to want to know the truth. In Exodus, go back to Exodus chapter nine, Exodus nine, Exodus chapter nine. And here's the thing about this. If you're in Egypt during this time, and you're a Hebrew, which means you believe in the true Lord, right? I mean, not all of them were saved, obviously, but many of them, probably most of them, I would say, believe in the true Lord. You have at least the right religion, whether you believe it or not. And you see an Egyptian that actually brings his cattle inside and his servants and says, man, I'm afraid of what God's going to do. You know what that's a signal to you? This person might actually listen to the gospel. Just think about this. I mean, you know, maybe you've worked a job before where you have a desire to try to get your coworker saved, but you can't just preach the gospel while you're working, right? But you can invite them out to lunch, or maybe sometimes what you do is you kind of make a statement, and you see what the reaction is, right? You know, maybe you've done that with family before. You know, you make a statement, you kind of see what the reaction is, and you can kind of see whether they're interested or whether or not they're just, like, not interested at all, right? Well, this is a sign to all of the Hebrews, those that feared the Lord, they might actually listen. And then, you know, you could go up to them at this point and say, hey, you know, I noticed that you brought your cattle in. You have a good reason to fear God. Let me explain to you more about the judgment of God, because judgment here in this life is tough. But here's the thing. You live for a short time, and then you have all eternity either in heaven or a place called hell. If you have just 15 minutes, I could show you what the Bible says, how you can know for sure you're going to heaven. Now, I'm not sure they worded it necessarily the same way. They probably didn't use the word Bible, right? But they say, let me explain to you the word of God that tells you how you can go to heaven. I believe that at this point, it's sort of like the first sign we have in some Egyptians that would actually listen to the gospel, and I do believe that some of them got saved. Obviously, our Bible's already a big book, so the Bible doesn't stop to just go in great detail about every situation. I would say common sense says that if they fear God and you're a saved person there, it's like, imagine that you have a coworker that tells you sometime like, man, I'm afraid to go to hell. Wouldn't you be like, okay, I got to tell this person how to get to heaven? Because you see, he's got that fear, right? Or you see somebody at the job that's just a good person, right? You see them reading the Bible during their lunch break. You see them just having a good attitude or not cursing or whatever. It's going to kind of be like something inside of you that says, I need to talk to this person, right? And at this time, I do believe that kind of opened the door for Hebrews to preach the gospel to some of the Egyptians. I do believe many got saved. Unfortunately, not all of them feared the Lord. Notice what it says in verse 21. And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. How foolish. You've seen all of these miraculous plagues, one right after another, they ended up happening. And then Moses says, hail is going to come and some said, well, you know, it's not worth bringing in the cattle. It's like, you're an idiot. Do you notice how much money they're losing? I mean, you have your cattle being pelted and your servants, you're losing a lot of money. It's like, what are you doing? You're an idiot. You know what this is called? Stubbornness. Stubbornness. I mean, they obviously can see, they've got the wrong religion. They can see there's a God that's more powerful than what they believe in, even if they said, I think, you know, there's only a 20% chance this is going to take place. Well, then bring your cattle and your servants in just in case. It's like, what are you doing? Like, you've got to be kidding me. They've seen all these plagues and this is really their chance because this is the plague where you leave them out there, they're going to die, you bring them in, they're going to live. And then some of them regarded not the word of the Lord. Just didn't want to listen. There are some people that are just as foolish as Pharaoh. Now, I'm sure, I mean, anyone who's a reprobate is probably not going to listen, but I'm sure that there was other unsaved people that are not reprobates that just were stubborn and didn't want to admit it. You know, and it kind of reminds me, we preach the gospel to people that know nothing about the Bible. In fact, almost everybody we preach to knows nothing about the Bible. But then you have someone that's really set in their ways. They're so confident they're correct and they know zero Bible verses, not a single Bible verse. And, you know, they don't even, you would think that if you don't know any Bible verses, you would at least be receptive like, well, I still think I'm right, but I ought to listen because of the fact, but a lot of them, they don't. And sometimes when I give the gospel to people and I get to the end and they're not believing it, I'll just say, you know, I showed you John three 16, that's the most famous verse in the Bible. I'm not pulling out some random verse that nobody knows. I mean, who so ever believeth in him, the most famous verse, and then they still just don't want to hear it. And it's just like, it's the most famous verses and they might not realize this. The other verse we use are very famous Ephesians two, eight, nine, very famous Roman six, 23, very famous. These are famous verses. We're not showing them, you know, something in Zachariah where it's like, tell me what this mean it. And it's like, you don't know what this means. No, I mean, these are very basic, just right there, famous verses. And a lot of people that just reject it, a lot of people here in Exodus nine, they just don't fear God. They just don't want to listen to it. They don't want to believe in it. And I find it amazing people, even if all the evidence is there, if they don't want to believe it, it's like they close off their mind and their heart and they can convince themselves of stupidity, even if all the evidence is right there in front of their face. We talk about this with this atheism science series where it's just like, how much more evidence do you want? It's like, show me a sign and I'll believe. It's like, yeah, right. You're going to see the hell come down. You still won't listen. You still won't even think about it. I hope after the hell came down and killed their cattle and their servants, they'd finally be like, okay, maybe we ought to listen. But I bet there are still people that are stubborn and said, you know, we still don't want to hear it. Exodus chapter nine, verse 22, Exodus nine, verse 22, and the Lord said on Moses, stretch forth on hand toward heaven that there may be hail and all the land of Egypt upon man and upon beast and upon every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven and the Lord said thunder and hail and the fire ran along upon the ground and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. Now the Bible mentions here fire running along upon the ground and, you know, there's different ways that you can interpret this. You know, one way to interpret this or one way it's common is the people interpret the fire as the lightning or, you know, it could be the lightning struck the ground and then fire started. That's not really the way that I look at it personally. I understand where people are coming from because hail is often in a thunderstorm. So I understand what they're saying. It's like, well, lightning is kind of like, you know, fire. But the Bible does mention the word lightning, but I don't see it here. So for me, I think that this is a miraculous event that's taking place where God is sending hail and fire from above. I don't think that it's striking the ground causing fire. I think fire is actually coming down. And this is, of course, not the only time in throughout the Bible where God sends fire from above. I mean, there's miraculous times such as Sodom and Gomorrah where God is actually raining fire. So during the wrath or judgment of God, it doesn't have to be scientifically possible because none of these plagues are anyway. So it's like, you know, when you're looking at plagues, I mean, some of them are, but when you're looking at all these frogs, that's not scientifically possible. All these flies and lice and all these things appearing, I mean, a lot of these things are miraculous things. And so there's nothing wrong with it being miraculous that fire is being sent. But it says, and let me say this though, when we're looking at the plagues, one of the things I mentioned toward the beginning is that the water turning to blood was the first plague, but it's also a picture of the blood of Jesus Christ that saves and cleanses from sin. Because the Egyptians, they worship the Nile. This is their special river, sort of like the Ganges that has special power. And it's like, well, let's take your miraculous spiritual river and turn it to blood because it's the blood of Christ that actually saves. Well, here, as we see the wrath of God being poured out, what does the fire represent? I believe it's representing hell fire. And I believe specifically there's the fire because I believe that these people, you know, have already heard about what the Hebrews believe about hell. Because around the world, everybody knows what hell is, even if they don't believe it. I believe during this time, they knew what the Egyptians or the Hebrews believe, they just didn't believe it themselves. And so, as they see fire, it's like, okay, the wrath of God, fire's a real place. You could go to your neighbor and say, hey, you know, you saw the fire that was raining. It's like, you're gonna be in fire for all eternity if you don't believe this, right? Says here in, actually go to Revelation 21, Revelation 21, Revelation 21. And I know we know this verse, but, you know, just try to imagine being a Hebrew during that time period. And, you know, we need to realize that even though the entire Bible has not been written going back thousands of years, the Word of God was spoken throughout history. And so a lot of things that were spoken were not necessarily written down, but they were maybe preached in sermons. You heard the Word of God spoken by prophets. So I believe what people would do is, as you have a prophet coming through town, you're writing down his words to remember them. And so, you know, whether or not you had this direct verse or something similar, I'm sure people knew all liars are gonna go to hell, right? And here's a verse you could think of, Revelation 21, 8, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. This is the perfect opportunity to tell the Egyptians, hey, you know what, doesn't matter how good you are, even a lie is enough to send you to hell fire forever. And of course, the fire coming down is gonna be that sort of sign to them. You have the water to blood, which is a clear sign, I believe, the blood of Christ. You have the fire here. I believe later on the plague of the darkness because the Bible speaks about outer darkness, right? And it symbolizes, you know, Jesus Christ and salvation. And of course, you think of the death of the firstborn and the Passover story. So a lot of these plagues, they're, they're kind of ripping apart the false religion of Egypt. They're also kind of pointing toward the actual message of salvation and the truth found in the Lord. Go to Exodus chapter 9, Exodus 9, and you're turning there and a famous verse, the Bible says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Those are the people that fear the word of the Lord. But that same verse says, but fools, which is the next group despise wisdom and instruction. And so the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So it all starts with a fear of God. Now here's the thing you say, well, maybe you got saved when I got saved at 18, maybe got saved in your 20s, 30s, whatever. But here's the thing, what we can do as parents is actually help prepare our kids to be ready for the gospel before they actually receive it. You say, well, how is it we can prepare our kids to be ready to receive the gospel? Well, here's the thing about this. I mean, God gave every child a mom and a dad, and our job as moms and dads is to be representative of the God that we want them to believe on and worship and love. And especially, I think that's true with moms as well, but specifically as fathers, think about something. You're basically the representation of God the Father, because your kids can see you as a father. And what is God the Father like? He's loving, but he also punishes. So if you treat your kids just with love, love, love, peace, peace, peace, never punish them, it's going to be kind of hard to get them to believe on the Lord that will save them from hell when they've never had a punishment for anything. You can actually teach them the right balance by showing them, hey, you know what, of course, your kids realize that you love them, you spend time with them, you care about them, but that doesn't mean anything goes. And it's going to make them help understand, well, wait a minute, there's a God above and yes, he's love, but that's not the only thing that God is. And so here's the thing, if you're a bad representation of God, I'm not saying your kids won't get saved, but you're going to make it harder for your kids to get saved. Because you look in the Bible, you think about this, it's like, how is it that people don't get their kids saved when they're saved? I mean, it makes no sense. How could you not get your kids saved if you're saved yourself? Because I understand that if you want to be great at getting people saved, you need practice preaching the gospel. But the thing is, if you're around your kids all the time, and it's not that hard to explain the gift of God is eternal life. I believe that they're going to end up getting it from you as a parent because as a child you get stuff very easily, right? And one part is, parents aren't taking the time to preach the gospel to their kids. But another aspect is just that they're not being a good representation. So it just doesn't seem logical to the kids, because your kids should get saved. I mean, and obviously my kids are young. And with Ezra, Christabel are very young, they're not the age of the comprehension yet. But you know, I don't really understand how Christianity is dying in this world. It's like, how do you not at least get your kids saved? Even if you never get anybody saved, can't you at least get your kids saved? But it starts with a fear of God. And one thing we need to teach our kids at a young age is that, you know what, we need to fear God. We need to be thankful for everything God gives us. I mean, spend time watching a volcano video with your kids on YouTube. Just show them, hey, you know what, this is the center of the earth. This is what hell is like. And when there have been major natural disasters ever since Zeph has been born and Christabel, I will always find a video on YouTube and just say, this is the judgment of God. And God is a loving God, but he will also pour out his wrath. And of course, you know, it's kind of sad to them they see that, because it's like they realize, well, people are dying in this tsunami or whatever it is. But I said, that's God's judgment. You say, why would you do that? Because I want them to realize that there is a God that is loving, but also will pour out his wrath as well, because I want them to get saved one day. The Bible says Exodus 9 verse 24, so there was hail and fire mingled with the hail. So for me, when I'm reading this, it doesn't seem like lightning striking, you know, the earth and causing the fire. I mean, fire is mingled with the hail, the Bible says here. So to me, I'm seeing this, this is coming from above. So there's hail and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. Now, I believe that the hail is bigger than anything I've seen. I've never seen fire mingled with hail. So I mean, we've had hail storms, I never had to fear like fire coming from above and striking us. But it says here verse 25, when the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast, and the hail smote every herb of the field and break every tree of the field. Every tree was broken by the hail. That's crazy. I mean, because a tree is pretty hard. So imagine if hail will knock over a tree and break it. Yeah, I don't think we're as strong as a tree, right? I mean, you get hit with that, you probably got several broken ribs from one shot. And then all of a sudden, you're down and you're like crawling and it's like, it's too late. Because I believe what we're seeing is that when you think, I don't think there's the opportunity where the hail is coming and it's like, oh, now I run inside. I think every single one that was out there, it's like you're not making it to safety. Meaning they get hit with one shot, it could break their leg or whatever. I mean, if it breaks a tree, then one shot could probably break your leg. This was not a normal hail. This was not something that I believe is scientifically explainable. I think this hail was so big and so strong that it's a miraculous event. I mean, this is the wrath of God that's being poured out. And it says in verse 26, only in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were was there no hail. Imagine if you were on the border, right? You're right on the border for Egypt and you're just kind of sitting back there in a lawn chair just eating some popcorn and you're just watching the Egyptians getting destroyed with the hail, right? And I don't know that anyone's doing that. I mean, obviously there'd probably be a lot of bitterness they have toward Egyptians. But I would hope that if you're saved, you'd be like, man, I don't want to see these people die though. I would say obviously there are plenty of evil people that were there, but it'd just be pretty amazing if you're like right on the line and it's like, they're getting destroyed and then you're here perfectly fine. And then, you know, that's what we're seeing here in Goshen, nothing happens to the children of Israel. Verse 27, let's see the reaction of Pharaoh. And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, I have sinned this time, the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked and treat the Lord for it is enough that there be no mighty thunderings and hail and I will let you go and you shall stay no longer. Now, Pharaoh does this over and over again, doesn't he? He seems to get right with God and then he changes his mind. He seems to get right with God and then he changes his mind. I don't think that he's genuinely turning to God by any stretch of the imagination. I think it's just when you see the judgment, it's sort of like, let's see if we can get out of this situation. But he always turns back. He's not the only one in the Bible. You see, I did have it in my notes, we're not going to go there for sake of time, but Belshazzar the king and Daniel five were basically he goes to all the sorcerers to try to interpret the writing on the wall. His desperation is Daniel. And he says, you know, I'm going to give you a reward if you can do this. I've heard you can do this. And Daniel's like, he doesn't want the reward. He doesn't like Belshazzar. That's why I was saying recently, Daniel doesn't seem to hate Nebuchadnezzar, but he hates Belshazzar. You know, obviously he thinks Belshazzar is a bad guy. And it's funny to me because Daniel says, I don't want the reward and Belshazzar still gives it to him after the judgment where he says you're going to die. I guess he's hoping, maybe if I do something nice, then God's not going to be so harsh on me. I don't know. But that's what Pharaoh reminds me of though, where it's basically, you know, you just turn back to God, you know, in a way just to see and you know what, the Bible speaks about having like true sorrow and having godly sorrow. And what the Bible says about like true sorrow is true sorrow results in a change. Every single person that gets caught is going to be sorry. Every single person. But the question is, is it true sorrow or godly sorrow, right? One of the famous examples in history, you know, in terms of, you know, an evil person that got caught is Jeffrey Dahmer and Jeffrey Dahmer is probably the most famous serial killer in American history and absolutely disgusting, I wouldn't recommend. But when Jeffrey Dahmer got caught, immediately when he got caught, he uttered the words, for what I did, I should be killed, or for what I did, I should be, I think he said killed, it might have been something else, it might be misremembered. But now I believe he had already planned those exact words for when he got caught to seem sympathetic to people. But the thing is, he was sorry he got caught, he didn't want to get caught. Because if they wanted to get caught, they would just go to the cops and say, I did it, right? He didn't want to get caught. He didn't want to get caught with all the evil crimes that he's doing, he didn't want to get caught. But then, of course, is that godly sorrow? Because there are people that will sit here and say, well, Jeffrey Dahmer got saved in prison. And the story they have is a Church of Christ preacher, which preaches a false gospel. The Church of Christ in the US is, you know, we call them the Campbellites, they are a cult that says, Acts 2-38 is their verse, you got to repent and be baptized. And baptism only counts in specific water. You must be of a like-minded church, the Church of Christ, or you go to hell. So you must be baptized in their water, meaning there's a very small group of people in this world that are saved. Because they're not a huge really, they have a few million people in the US, like maybe five million worldwide or something. But a Church of Christ person gave him the gospel, he supposedly got saved. But do you know how Jeffrey Dahmer died? When he was killed, because he was murdered in prison by another inmate. And the story the inmate gave was that the reason he killed Jeffrey Dahmer and the other person is because they were bragging about being pedophiles, about all the things that they did to all these, you know, little kids and all the people they killed, and the person was so angry that he beat him to death. And, you know, I can't say for sure that that's what he heard, but, you know, it's pretty believable because honestly, a lot of these evil people in prison end up getting killed because, you know, even though there's a lot of reprobates in jail, there's other people that are normal that are just disgusted by these wicked evil people that I would imagine in prison, they probably just brag and talk about all the great things they did in their eyes of all these wicked evil things. But here's the thing, Pharaoh does the same thing. It's like, well, he gets right. No, he doesn't, then he goes right back over and over and over and over and over again. I mean, honestly, you can look this up, but every, basically every single serial killer has gotten saved in prison, supposedly. You say, why would they fake it? Because they don't want the death penalty, because they want to get out on good behavior of 40 years down the road. That's the reason why they get saved in prison. It always happens. I mean, it's not just, I mean, everyone who is in jail for murder, for killing one person, it's not a serial killer, they end up getting saved, right, and the people like, I mean, it's like the most common thing. Now, I'm not saying people can't get saved in prison. I'm just saying a lot of people just kind of fake it because it's going to help them, you know, with their sentence, right? But anyways, Exodus 9, verse 29, let's finish up the chapter here. Exodus 9, verse 29, and Moses said unto him, as soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord, and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail, and thou mayest know how the earth is the Lord's. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that you will not yet fear the Lord God. I like those words from Moses. He says, I know you're not going to fear God yet. You act like you are, but I know that this is, you know, I've been down this road with this crazy Pharaoh. It's like I figured out you're not going to fear God. Now, verses 31 and 32 sound very confusing, and I'll explain them here, though, because then he makes this illustration to explain the fear of God, and the reason why this makes no sense to us when we read it is because we don't live in that area where we experience the thing. Sometimes there's examples in the Bible that we have trouble relating to because we're not farmers or we're not, you know, whatever, where we would experience that direct thing. It says in verse 31, and the flax and the barley was smitten, for the barley was in the air and the flax was bold, but the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up. Because for me, when I'm preparing the sermon, I'm like, I have no idea what he's trying to say in verses 31 and 32, but he's not trying to speak in a parable. I just don't understand because I'm not familiar with this. This is being linked back to the fear of God. Now, what I read online, and this makes perfect sense when you actually read this, is that barley and flax are said to ripen around February, but the wheat and the rye come later. So the barley and flax in verse 31, they come in February, but then verse 32, the wheat and the rye, they come later, but the wheat and the rye are much more essential for food. They're much more valuable. So I believe what he's saying when you look at that is basically the small plagues have already taken place, Pharaoh. You're not going to fear God. I just want you to realize this. The small plagues have happened, right? The flax and the barley have already taken place, but you know what? The wheat and the rye are still to come, and those are much more valuable, meaning in this context, they're much more worse plagues that are here to come, right? So I read the explanation without them making the example from it, and I'm like, okay, it makes perfect sense now what he's saying. What he's saying is, hey, you know what? The eighth, ninth, and tenth plagues, they're worse than the first seven, right? It's only going to get worse from here, and you have the locusts, which are going to destroy all of the food, and then certainly, I mean, the darkness, and by far the worst, the death of the firstborn. You're going to lose your child. And so basically, it's like, Pharaoh, I know you're not going to fear God yet. I just want you to realize that you know what? It's going to get worse. You don't fear God, but this is your warning. It's going to get worse, Pharaoh. Then it says here in verse 33, and Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread and brought his hands on the Lord, and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses. As we see the same thing, the plague comes, and Pharaoh rejects it. He's already made this decision, basically, I'm all in. Right? And you know, it just is what it is. And of course, he's someone who can't turn to God at this point, he's a reprobate. But the thing is, as bad as this judgment is, I mean, people are finally fearing God. And I just don't think that would have taken place, because you think of countries in this world that might be more or less receptive to the gospel. And of course, one thing you think of is countries that are very rich are probably not going to be that receptive to the gospel, because they think they've got it all figured out. I mean, they've got like, we've got all the money in the world, what do we care? And you know what, Egypt definitely typified that because, you know, I would say that the richest country in the world is the United States, today is the most powerful and richest country. But they do have a semblance of Christianity that's built into them, even though people don't really care about God anymore, they have a semblance of Christianity. Egypt was the most powerful country, this great empire with no semblance of Christianity, no semblance of the right religion. So they would be essentially impossible to get saved, unless you could do something to get them to fear God. And that's exactly what we're seeing here in all these chapters. Let's close the Word of Prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, and just thank you for a wonderful story and help us when we read these chapters, not just read this for the entertainment of God, but also just learn valuable wisdom from the Word of God. God, we pray these things that Jesus said. Amen.